1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a system for performing communication between devices mounted in vehicle, and in particular, the system that uses a power line to perform the communication between an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) and each of on-vehicle devices such as an inverter, a compressor etc., which are mounted in vehicles including a hybrid vehicle and an electric vehicle.
The present application also relates to a communication module incorporated in the above system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent vehicles such as hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles, it is frequently required to reliably perform high-speed communication among on-vehicle devices for controlling behaviors of the vehicle.
Conventionally, when communicating between ECU and on-vehicle devices in a hybrid vehicle, the communication was performed by connecting target devices by communication lines of exclusive use. A composition example of the system for performing communication between devices mounted in vehicle is shown in FIG. 1. The system 10 for performing communication between devices mounted in vehicle shown in FIG. 1 includes an A/C-ECU 11 which performs air-conditioner control as ECU, an HV-ECU 13 which is connected to the A/C-ECU 11 by CAN (Controller Area Network)—through the GW (Gateway) device 12 which is connected by LIN (Local Interconnect Network) to the A/C-ECU 11 and performs signal conversion and an E/G-ECU 14 which performs engine control. However, the HV-ECU 13 performs the motor control for a hybrid vehicle, etc.
The system 10 for performing communication further includes a battery unit 21 which has a high-voltage battery 21a and supervises battery voltage of the high-voltage battery 21a, a DC/DC converter 22 which converts the high voltage of the high-voltage battery 21a in the battery unit 21 into 12V of the low voltage, a driving inverter 23 which performs drive control of a motor for hybrid, an electric compressor 24 which compresses a coolant of an air-conditioner, a pump 25, such as a cooling-water circulation pump and an oil pump and a fan 26, such as a battery cooling fan and a radiator fan. These on-vehicle devices 21-26 are connected by power supply line 27 shown with solid line.
Meanwhile, the HV-ECU 13 is connected to the battery unit 21, the DC/DC converter 22, the driving inverter 23, the electric compressor 24 and the pump 25 by communication lines 28 shown with dashed lines, and the E/G-ECU 14 and the fan 26 are also connected by communication lines 28, Thereby required communication is performed respectively.
An example of such conventional art of communication in a vehicle is disclosed, for example, in a Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-230520.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional system for performing communication between devices mounted in vehicle, in order for ECU and each on-vehicle device to perform predetermined communication, communication lines of exclusive use are required. For this reason, there is a problem that troublesome work, such as drag, connection, etc. of communication lines, occurs, and as a result, work cost increases.